Thermosetting Polyurethanes (PU) provide a unique combination of durability, light weight, high strength and flexibility to high value consumer goods and other applications. PU thermosets have grown to a global market of 50 billion €, ultimately resulting in high volumes of waste mostly disposed via landfill or incineration as the SOA of the recycling technology is limited. PUReSmart will bridge the gap between the current PU linear economy to a circular model by designing smart polyurethane materials that can be reshaped into new products with undiminished quality. PUReSmart will provide solutions for the identified three scientific-technological urgent needs that require conceptual breakthroughs: 1) Smart DESIGN of covalent adaptable polyurethanes (CAPU) to bridge the gap between thermosets and thermoplastics, thanks to thermally reversible bonds; these CAPU are reprocessable, similarly to thermoplastics. 2) Smart SORTING, using the unique spectroscopic fingerprints of conventional PU and smart building blocks to create a validated and cost effective PU sorting platform with high specificity and sensitivity; this enables driving CAPUs to reprocessing and PU to chemolysis. 3) Smart CHEMOLYSIS with mass balanced and minimized input of virgin chemicals, maximal purity and efficient isolation of the obtained building blocks resulting in full re-utilization of all obtained fractions for PU or CAPUs; PUReSmart will integrate CAPU chemistry with monomers obtained by next-generation chemolysis processes, using well-sorted feedstocks, aiming at scalable industrial products (TRL 5) with social and economic value assessed by a Life Cycle Analysis for ‘cyclic’ PU. The project encompasses a concerted effort of partners along the value- and revalorization chain: PU producers, producers of the building blocks, technology providers for physical sorting, and research institutions focusing on design of new PU types and on innovative chemolysis methods for existing PU types.

Fuel cells and hydrogen (FCH) systems are increasingly considered in energy and climate policies, roadmaps and plans all over the world. In order to avoid past criticalities, such as those leading to a climate emergency situation, sustainability criteria are being progressively implemented in these initiatives, e.g., by promoting low-carbon renewable hydrogen in Europe. In this regard, science-based criteria and procedures are required to guarantee the environmental suitability of FCH products, reporting their life-cycle environmental profile according to the principles of transparency, traceability, reproducibility, and consistency for comparability. While these principles are aligned with those of the general methodological guidance for Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) studies, further specification is required to effectively implement them when addressing FCH products. Hence, the HyPEF project aspires to support and promote the establishment of an environmentally-responsible hydrogen economy by developing and testing the first Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs) specific to FCH products, while paving the way for subsequent related initiatives in the FCH sector. HyPEF is conceptualised as the natural step forward in methodological specification towards policy- and market-relevant life-cycle environmental assessment and benchmarking of FCH products. The interdisciplinary approach behind HyPEF leads to crucial advancements regarding (i) the first development and application of well-accepted PEFCRs tailored to three pre-selected FCH product categories (electrolysers for hydrogen production, tanks for hydrogen storage, and fuel cells for hydrogen stationary use), (ii) increased high-quality data availability for consistent environmental assessment and benchmarking of FCH products, and (iii) first PEF-oriented policy recommendations towards official qualification of an FCH product as an environmentally-responsible investment.

The AGRAL (Advanced Green Aluminium anode) project will aim at developing the manufacturing technologies of a specific cermet (called AGRAL cermet within this proposal) that has shown at lab scale outstanding properties in high temperature and corrosive media i.e. aluminium electrolysis. Furthermore, this AGRAL cermet enables Aluminium Pechiney, leader of this project, to consider the replacement of their current carbon anode by this inert anode thus decreasing to zero the CO2 emission during electrolysis process. Furthermore this AGRAL cermet will be tested for two applications: aluminium electrolysis (for the manufacturing of an inert anode up to industrial scale) and for protection of interconnect plates in hydrogen and fuel cell application (up to pre-prototype scale). This AGRAL cermet will be used as an inert anode in the Aluminium industry. Thanks to the inert anode, it is expected to decrease by a minimum of 50% of CO2 emissions compared to currently used carbon anode. Then, the transfer to the fuel and hydrogen cell applications will be studied. To reach the objectives, the partners will aim at: - Developing the manufacturing process for the AGRAL cermet coating for aluminium electrolysis o The Thermal Spray coatings: HVOF (combined eventually with Cold Spray ) and eGun (HVOF with ethanol, technology developed by Flame Spray Technologies) o The Powder Metallurgy Process : HIP and Ultraflex (technology developed by Kennametal Stellite) The final manufacturing process will be adapted to large dimension (an anode is 1m long) and to complex shape (plates, grid). - Developing qualification test for real scale inert anode to detect failure of the anode operation - Developing the manufacturing process for the AGRAL cermet coating for hydrogen and fuel cell interconnect plates The economic viability and the environmental impact of both the inert anode and its manufacturing process and the fuel cell application along their whole life cycle, will be monitored.

Achieving climate neutrality by 2050 requires a rapid paradigm shift towards the implementations of new, climate positive solutions that can boost the European market. Emerging new solutions for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) have great potential to decarbonize production in the chemical industry, while allowing value creation from own carbon emissions. In this context, the PYROCO2 project will demonstrate the scalability and economic viability of carbon capture and utilization (CCU) to make climate-positive acetone out of industrial CO2 and renewable electricity derived hydrogen. Core of the technology is an energy-efficient thermophilic microbial bioprocess that is projected towards a reduction of 17 Mt CO2eq by 2050. The acetone produced by the PYROCO2 process will be demonstrated as an ideal platform for the catalytic synthesis of a range of chemicals, synthetic fuels, and recyclable polymer materials from CO2, generating a portfolio of viable business cases and pre-developed processes for replication and commercialisation. The PYROCO2 demonstrator plant will be able to produce up to 4000 tonnes acetone annually from 9100 tonnes of industrial CO2 and green hydrogen. It will preferably be located at the industrial cluster of Heroya Industrial Park in southern Norway, a strategic placement that guarantees access to CO2 feedstock and green energy at a competitive price and connects several carbon-intensive industries with chemical production through industrial symbiosis. From here, the PYROCO2 project will represent a key driver for the emergence of CCU Hubs across Europe. Besides the large-scale demonstration and full financial, regulatory, and environmental assessment of the PYROCO2 technology, the project will explore the sphere of public acceptance and market exploitation to further encourage the emergence of the CCU market.

The current food system is unsustainable and underperforming, having high environmental and socio-economic costs, while still failing to ensure food and nutrition equity for all. Dietary shifts towards novel foods based on alternative protein sources (NFAP; proteins derived from insect, fungi, bacteria, micro and macro algae and agriculture and aquaculture by-products), provide a unique opportunity to reduce consumption of animal-based proteins potentially minimizing the impact of the Food Systems. However, knowledge regarding the environmental, economic and social impact of the widespread production, provision and consumption of NFAP is very limited and not integrated into a holistic vision of the food system able to identify trade-offs, interaction between food system actors and second and third order impacts. The goal of EPIC-SHIFT is to provide an unprecedented, independent, solid knowledge base on the sustainability (env., eco. and soc.) aspects of NFAP as options for protein diversification for human consumption. Considering that the contribution of each NFAP types to reorganize the food systems may differ, EPIC-SHIFT applies a quadruple helix innovation model in its multi-actor approach to roadmap the sustainable development of NFAP for Planetary Health Diets. Designed as a think-tank and adopting Food Systems Thinking approach, EPIC-SHIFT will provide a multidimensional impact assessment of 7 NFAP (from protein type to product level) at scale complemented with the necessary recommendations for food environments, marketing, regulatory approval, infrastructure and investment needed to support long-term market growth. EPIC-SHIFT integrated scenario analysis will further result in decision support tools that will inform policy and decision-making about the trajectories to achieve the sustainable integration of NFAP in the EU diets ensuring resource efficiency, food security and nutrition within a framework of just transition for all food system actors.